Lighting Stripping awaythe myths Richard Cockayne. I


f necessity is the mother of invention, the task of making LED technology easier to understand and install must


share the same DNA, or at least be the electrical equivalent of a chip off the old block! The world and his wife seem to recognise LED


strip’s transformative capacity to dramatically alter the look and feel of a domestic setting, retail space, hotel lobby or theatre by introducing new shape, definition and even a three-dimensional mood that can bring the drabbest of spaces back to life or make them feel like a completely different room. With this creative approach, you would be


forgiven for thinking that LED strip was flying off the shelves at electrical wholesalers up and down the land. But you would be wrong. Indeed, conversely, sales of this new product wunderkid have been slower than expected and this, I suspect, is more to do with a perception that it is somehow difficult to install. Nothing could be further from the truth, but as the old saying goes: ‘a lie is half way round the world before the truth has got its boots on’. This ‘lie’ is compounded by the fact that although electrical wholesalers have the stock of LED strip and everything else to bring to life – power source, connectors etc – there has been no appetite or incentives to market it together in order to sell it more proactively. As a market leader in LED strip lighting, we


have made it our business to debunk the mythology surrounding LED strip and illuminate the way for greater sales via a ‘holistic’ and more transparent approach to the wholesale electrical market – the main route to market for the installers. The wholesaler is the ‘kingmaker’ of all


contractor sales – if they understand the proposition and its ease, they are more likely to promote, specify or generally ‘big it up’ at the


14 | electrical wholesaler August 2017


Richard Cockayne, Managing Director of Maxilux, debunks the mythology over LED strip lighting.


trade counter if the installer does not come with a specific brief.


Until this point, the LED market has been dominated by non-brand specific commoditised strip that requires cutting, soldering and additional power sources. Our mission was to bring all the ingredients together and take away the hassle factor. This meant reducing the ‘faff’ factor –


replacing soldering with strong connectors – and providing all the essential components, including the power source, in distinct cardboard packaging rather than an indistinct roll in coloured or transparent plastic that requires you to also go and buy the other necessary ingredients. We came up with this solution not by magic, but by market research with wholesalers about their needs in order to ‘debunk the mythology’ that LED strip lighting is difficult to install. Our view is that the complexity factor comes


from manufacturers providing too much choice with little thought as to how this might make the products more difficult to understand and, therefore, to sell. Currently most LED strip is supplied on 5m


reels, however buildings are not designed on rigid Stalinist architectural patterns with everything being the same size, and this either means waste or joining pieces together by soldering, which was really not of interest to most wholesalers.


Our approach is therefore two-pronged: we now supply our PU coated strips on 25m reels meaning the wholesaler can simply cut the required length for customers – with no waste. We also supply solder-free robust connectors that allow the wholesaler to prepare cables for the customer to their exact specifications in a matter of minutes. The net result is that the customer leaves the


store with a solution which is easy to fit and the correct size, whilst the wholesaler has been able to sell a product at improved margins because it's custom made. It is complemented by power supplies and a dimmer switch. The initiative has been welcomed by a number of wholesalers. Andrew Simpson, Manager at Powersaver in Burnley, said: “This is so easy to install – you can get it in a kit version or cut the strip between each LED light so you can have it to any length. This is the first time I have seen anything like this.” Out latest product is a customisable linear


light to fit under cabinets, but instead of asking wholesalers to stock a range of sizes, we supply a complete kit with all the components to easily assemble to any size, up to 1.75m in length. With these new innovations, I suspect the glacial sales on LED strip sales will start flowing at a faster pace.


www.maxilux.co.uk


We have made it our business to debunk the mythology surrounding LED strip and illuminate the way for greater sales via a


‘holistic’ and more transparent approach to the wholesale electrical market – the main route to market for the installers.


www.ewnews.co.uk


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